Investigation on the role of Survivin and Caspase-3 in the development of hepatoblastoma

Objective To investigate the relationship between the expressions of Caspase-3 and Survivin and the development of hepatoblastoma (HB). Methods S-P immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expressions of Caspase-3 and Survivin in 20 cases with HB, as well as 9 cases with adjacent noncancerous tissues, 4 cases with normal livers from children and 8 cases with normal livers from adults. Results The positive rate of Survivin in HB, adjacent noncancerous tissues, nor-mal livers of children and normal livers of adults was 100%, 33.3%, 25.0% and 0%, respectively. In normal livers of children, the expression of Survivin was significantly lower than that in HB. The positive rate of Caspase-3 in HB, adjacent noncancerous tissues, normal liver of children and normal liver of adults was 80%, 55.6%, 0% and 87.5%, respectively. In normal livers of children, the ex-pression of Caspase-3 was significantly lower than that in HB. In normal livers of adults, the expres-sion of Caspase-3 was significantly lower than that in normal children. The expression of Survivin in HB had no correlation with that of Caspase-3. Conclusions The high expression of Survivin may play an important role in the development of HB. Key words: Survivin;  Caspase-3;  Hepatoblastoma;  Immunohistochemistry